I'll
start with Greed, since it seems that Sins are the most fun for us
mortals.

Greed,
according to the dictionary is "excessive desire." Clear enough. At
least on the surface.

But
then, not all Desires are Vices. Some, it appears to me, are good
to go overboard on.

How
about a person who has a fervent desire to help their neighbor? Or one
who dedicates their life to feeding the poor? Or, a person who casts
aside everything in pursuit of the Virtues?

Again,
there must be more to it than just Excessive Desire.

The
dictionary adds, "Especially for food or wealth." And of course that
would make it fit right in with the program. But the word "especially"
serves as an open door to anything else someone wishes to toss into the
mix.

Let's
check the languages and see what we can find.

In
the Latin, the word is avaritia, or
avarice, as we would call it. So let's look up Avarice.

The
dictionary gives us, "Extreme greed for money or gain." That makes it
clearer. No open doors there. It also adds, "Cupidity." So, in order to
round out this section, I will look that word up.

For
Cupidity we are given, "Greed for gain, Avarice." So we are back at the
beginning, but this time with the door closed, but not locked. And
since it was the Latins who devised the Seven, I think that having used
their own word should suffice, rather than Greed,
which is an English equivalent.

Another
aspect of Greed that might be worthy of considering, is that even
excessive desire for the Virtues could be considered a Vice. If a
person seeks for their own value, their own
perfection, their own karma to the exclusion of
everyone else, couldn't that be considered a sin? Wouldn't it be more
worthy a quest to strive for higher Virtues, and to help overcome the
Vices, of others, rather than one's self?

Add
to this the admonition of the Ancients to be moderate, that is, to be
neither hot nor cold, but take the middle ground, then any
extreme would be a Vice.

Now,
to stir up the mix a bit, the Bible says that God wants us to be an
Extremist. That a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways.
That if we are lukewarm He will "Spue you out of my mouth." That He
would rather that we be cold, than to be lukewarm. That the road is
straight and narrow. And, of course, the road He is referring to is
very high, and nowhere near the middle.

I
think you will agree, unless you are just browsing; you are not going
to get off this page without doing a little thinking.

On
to Charity.

Charity,
according to the dictionary is; giving to and helping those in need.
That's clear enough. No argument could be had with that.

But
is that all there really is too it? You stick your hand in your pocket
or purse, pull out a dollar bill and hand it to someone -- and now you
are no longer Greedy? Now you will come back in a higher form in the
next life, or go to Heaven, depending on your Faith?

I
can commit Vices all week, and put money in the collection plate on
Sunday, and now I'm Virtuous, like Al Capone?

Robin
Hood, where art thou, now?

I
think some investigating is in order.

Again
we look to the Latin, and we find that the word for Charity that was
originally used was liberalis, which, tous would be Liberally, which the dictionary defines
as, "Liberal, abundant." This explains it a little better. Now we know
that a dollar in the kitty won't do -- it has to be at least two
dollars. Of course, I'm being facetious, that is, kidding around.

In
other words, it seems, you can't just give, you have to give a bit of yourself
as well.

A
point of interest; An old meaning of the Latin word used for Charity
had the meaning, "Free man". Could that have had the implication that
if you give, it frees you? Just a thought.

As
we dig a little deeper, let us turn to the Greek, since it has a lot to
say about Charity. In fact, the Greek has several words for it
expressing different levels.

So,
the Greek word for Charity is agape, which means,
"Love, affection, benevolence."

That
certainly adds to the picture. You not only have to give, you have to
give a bit of yourself, (as we have already seen), and now, it appears
that we have to care about the person we are
giving too.

Goodness!
How much more is going to be asked of us?

Apparently,
quite a bit. At least according to the Bible.

Jesus,
as an illustration, said of a woman that put a tiny amount of money in
the collection for the poor, that she had contributed more than all the
others who put in much more. He said that she had contributed from her
penury (meaning destitute) all that she had, and that the others had
contributed from their abundance.

She
was the poor. All that money should have
been going to her. Yet, she was giving instead of
taking.

That's
asking a lot.

And
for more, if you would like to research this aspect of giving further,
here is a good place you can start: 1st
Corinthians Chapter 18.